New zero waste shop aims to cut single-use plastic waste

A ‘zero waste’ shop that cuts out plastic has just opened its doors in Crookes, Sheffield.

The new store, called ‘Unwrapped’, reduces waste by cutting out on packaging and plastic by customers coming in filling their own containers with food and echo products. The paper bags they provide are also 100 per cent recyclable.

The shop was opened by Dr Rebecca Atkinson and Dr Kirsty Burnet who met in 2006 while studying for their PHD’s in Ecology when they both discovered their mutual passion for the environment.

In 2017, Dr Atkinson and Dr Burnet decided to go into business together to provide weekly essentials while catering to a wide variety of budgets.

Unwrapped can be found in Crookes, Sheffield

Dr Atkinson, also a biology lecturer at the University of Sheffield, said: “We are both very environmentally conscious and were finding it hard to find ways to reduce our waste and that’s when we noticed more and more of these zero waste shops opening down south.

“We thought that was just what our community needed and the reaction from locals has been amazing.

“We have tried to make the shop as convenient for customers as possible so we have seen customers come in see what we have in store then come back with their own containers from home to fill up.”

Both Dr Atkinson and Dr Burnet are vegetarians so Unwrapped is a completely vegetarian shop and also stocks a wide variety of vegan and whole foods, liquid refills and other eco products aiming to reduce waste.

The shop offers a wide variety of vegetarian, vegan and whole foods

Dr Burnet said: “There is a huge packaging issue that is polluting our planet and the plastic being used is taking thousands of years to degrade in landfills.

“A lot of products do not need packaging and customers coming in to fill their containers means cutting out all the extra waste that will reduce pollution and cutting down our consumption of the earth’s resources.

“We try to keep our prices as low as we can and sell in bulk, so zero waste shopping is accessible to everyone and in the long term it can actually save customers money.”

Unwrapped is located on 152-154 Crookes, Sheffield, and can be found on the 52 and 52a bus route from the centre of Sheffield.